


Captain Marvel and the Avengers

by WhiteravenGreywolf



Series: If I stay [23]
Category: Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Carol and Tony trying to one-up one another, F/F, I suppose, If Captain Marvel had been in Avengers, The Carol Initiative, spoilers for Avengers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-01 02:18:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18326672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteravenGreywolf/pseuds/WhiteravenGreywolf
Summary: How dare Nick call her on her day off? And to find the artifact which she had entrusted in him, to begin with!Basically The Avengers movie, but with Carol in the middle.





	1. Call Me when You Need Me

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! You've been waiting for it and here it is! Captain Marvel and the Avengers! I had to cut it into two parts because I could have done it in one but you would not have gotten this chapter until 9 p. m. tonight and I am not okay with that! Anyway, don't worry, part 2 will be up tomorrow, as usual! Once again if you have any Ramvers family prompt I'm completely ready to accept them. It's not that I'm out of ideas, its that I'm almost out of none Avengers oriented prompts for the rest of the month.  
> Anyway, as usual, I hope you like it!

Carol was awoken by her pesky phone playing that awful pop tune Monica had chosen for herself. She groaned and rolled in her empty bed. Maria was at work for most of the week, when the previous day had been Carol's day off. She stretched and blindly reached for her phone. She finally managed to pick it up, after almost pushing it off the bedside table. She answered the call and put her on speaker, throwing the phone on her chest over the blanket, too lazy to keep it in her hand.

  
"Hey, honey, what's up?"

  
"Hey, Carol. Were you asleep?"

  
"Yeah, I was sleeping my day off, cause you're mom's stuck at work. Could you tell her to hurry home, my bed is so empty without her," she mumbled.

  
"Umm, Carol, there's someone who wants to talk to you..."

  
"Is it Maria?"

  
"No, it's not," Fury replied. "By the way, you were on speaker, and the entire bridge of the helicarrier just heard you."

  
Carol groaned, rubbing her face with her hands.

  
"Is there no better way to start the day than hear about my love life?"

  
"I can think of a few," Monica suggested.

  
"In any case, everyone has been trying to contact you for the past six hours."

  
Carol picked up her phone and checked the notification tab, only to find a whole bunch of missing calls, from Maria, Monica, Fury, and even Coulson.

  
"It's my day off."

  
"Not anymore, Captain. We are at war."

  
"War?" she questioned with a yawn. Fury could be such a drama queen from time to time.

  
"This is a Level Seven, Danvers. Avengers Initiative is on, and if you're not at the helicarrier in an hour, we'll save the world without your help."

  
Carol considered staying in bed for a second, but it sounded too ridiculous. Instead, she sat up and stretched her arms over her head.

  
"Don't fret, boss, I'll be there in thirty minutes."

  
"You better."

  
The call ended, and Carol pushed herself out of bed.

* * *

  
  
Carol flew to the helicarrier in no time at all, in her Starforce uniform rather than her SHIELD suit. If Avengers Initiative was on, then there was no reason to hide anymore. She arrived just in time to see the helicarrier slowly raising from the sky. She saw many agents on the runway, running around and tying down all the Quinjets. She also saw three small figures watching as the rotors had risen out of the water and propelled the flying fortress into the sky. Carol recognized Natasha's red hair easily and came to land beside her.

  
The two other men beside her went from staring at the rotors with awe to staring at her with awe. She landed, dispelling the last of her powers into the wind, and her helmet disappeared. Steve Rogers recognized her quickly.

  
"Captain," he saluted her.

  
"Captain," he saluted him back.

  
"Look who finally decided to show up," Natasha said.

  
Carol rolled her eyes.

  
"I was on my day off, is it too much to ask? Just a few days without having to save the world?"

  
Then she turned to the last man she'd never seen before. He was smaller than Steve – everyone was smaller than Steve – with frizzy black hair and glasses.

  
"Hi, I don't think we've met before. Captain Carol Danvers," she said, holding out her hand.

  
"Bruce Banner," he said simply.

  
He hesitated, looking at her hand to make sure it wasn't glowing anymore before he shook it. Carol turned the name over in her mind. He was a potential candidate for the Avengers Initiative, she knew. Doctor Bruce Banner.

  
"Oh, yeah, you're the doctor, right? I thought your stuff was more nuclear physics. Why did Fury call you?"

  
Bruce shrugged.

  
"Apparently I'm the only person capable of finding the Tesseract."

  
A cold, slimy feeling fell down Carol's stomach.

  
"What? The Tesseract? Fury lost the Tesseract?"

  
"That's what they told me," Bruce replied, suddenly very unsure of himself.

  
Carol looked at Steve and Natasha for confirmation. Steve didn't know whether it was wise to answer or not. Natasha nodded. Carol turned around and walked at top speed to the bridge. Every coworker who past her smiled then looked at her outfit with confusion then decided against asking her why she was wearing such a strange attire when she looked as pissed as she did.

  
She stomped onto the bridge and Fury turned to face her. Maria Hill was standing by her post as second in command, and Carol quickly noticed Monica seating among the expert pilots a bit farther in the room.

  
"Now look who finally decided to grace our ship with her presence," Fury declared.

  
"You lost the Tesseract!" she shouted.

  
"I was going to come to that, I was waiting to make sure you were awake."

  
"Well, I am now! So spill it!"

  
She stood right in front of Fury, staring down at him with her arms crossed. Anyone would have cowered under her glare.

  
"We didn't lose the Tesseract, it was stolen from us."

  
"By who? Give me a name and I'll shred them before scattering their pieces across the galaxy."

  
 She was pumped up and ready to fight. However, Fury's answer deflated her considerably.

  
"An Asgardian. He stole the Tesseract, turned some of our best agents against us using a magic scepter of some kind and destroyed out PEGASUS base."

  
Carol sighed.

  
"An Asgardian, really? They're the worst. They think they're entitled to everything. Where is he now?"

  
"We don't know, but we'll find out soon. I called upon a specialist."

  
Just then, Bruce, Natasha, and Steve walked onto the bridge. Captain America seemed stunned by the display of technology in front of him. He walked past Fury, giving him a random dollar bill which even Carol was too young to explain if it was something normal for 1940s people to do. Fury went to talk to Bruce, and Carol was left with nothing to chew. She hated waiting, and with the Tesseract out there, who knew what could happen? She glanced over at Monica who gave her a small wave and smile. Carol smiled back and relaxed.

* * *

  
  
With nothing else to do but wait for either the facial recognition or Bruce's algorithm to find the Tesseract and its thief, Carol went to wander around the helicarrier. She ended up in the inner hangar, where more planes were stashed. Once again all of her co-workers had the same reaction upon seeing her. This time, however, none of them stopped her because she looked completely focused on something.

  
Maria was fixing one of the Quinjets in the back, one either Carol or Monica had probably busted – because they were almost toe to toe for the highest number of busted, barely flyable aircraft they brought to home-base this year. Carol walked inside the Quinjet and knocked on the hull to catch Maria's attention. Maria rolled out from under the central panel and sat up, smiling when she saw her girlfriend.

  
"Hey, look who finally decided to show up."

  
"Why is everyone telling me that?" Carol asked as she walked up to Maria.

  
Maria stood up, and Carol placed one hand on the collar of her suit, and the other around her waist, before kissing her. It felt strange and so new, to be able to kiss so openly at work. Of course, Maria wasn't particularly the one who jumped at every occasion to show affection to her girlfriend. She just wasn't complaining to see Carol take every chance she got to kiss her.

  
"Hello to you too," Maria chuckled after they separated.

  
"Sorry I didn't pick up this morning, I was sleeping my day off, like the miserable person that I am when my girlfriend isn't on leave with me."

  
Carol pouted, and Maria mimicked her pout mockingly.

  
"Oh, poor thing. I'm sure you can ask for more days off after you've saved the world."

  
"Speaking of, I should probably return to the bridge before Fury threatens of taking my team away from me again."

  
Carol kissed Maria one last time before walking away.

  
"Be serious, okay?" Maria called back.

  
"Yes, ma'am."

  
Carol left the plane and walked back to the bridge. She passed through the door at the exact moment one of the agents called out:

  
"We've got a hit! Sixty-seven percent match. Wait, cross match, seventy-nine percent."

  
"Location?" Coulson asked.

  
"Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding."

  
"Captain?" Fury called out.

  
"Yes?" Both Steve and Carol replied.

  
"Captain Rogers, you're up."

  
Steve nodded and left the bridge. Carol pouted at Fury.

  
"Is this my punishment for arriving late? Because you know, technically we arrived at the same time. Actually, I was on the bridge before him."

  
"No, Captain Danvers, this is not a punishment. I need you here in case Doctor Banner locates the Tesseract. I doubt Loki would have it on him. Plus, only you can pick it up for extended periods of time."

  
Carol sighed and fell back into a chair around the table.

  
"Fine. But I don't appreciate waiting. Or missing a good fight."

* * *

  
  
Doctor Banner had not located the cube before the other team had returned, and they hadn't returned alone. Not only were Loki and his scepter in their position, but they also came back with two new additions for the team. Another Asgardian named Thor, and Tony freaking Stark. Carol had fled the bridge when she'd heard he was coming over, and gone straight to where Fury was keeping Loki. However, Fury had stopped her at the door. He wanted to intimidate him alone, which Carol could completely understand. Instead, she'd stayed out the door and had tapped into the SHIELD security network with her suit's computer to keep an eye on Loki.

  
Fury had emerged a few minutes later, walking back toward the bridge, and Carol had followed him.

  
"He's not going to talk," she said.

  
"Then let's hope we can figure out what he wants before it's too late."

  
"I could always ruff him up a bit?" she suggested. "You know, dangle him in the air by his feet, throw him up to space a bit. He's Asgardian, he's pretty resistant, to begin with."

  
Fury shook his head.

  
"I don't want to give him a chance to escape. If we really can't find anything, then I will allow you to talk to him."

  
Carol nodded. Together they walked onto the bridge where they found the whole team around the table, supervised by Hill.

  
"And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster," Tony said to a visibly embarrassed Bruce.

  
"Thanks," the doctor replied sheepishly.

  
"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube," Fury said as he approached the table. "I was hoping you might join him."

  
Tony looked past Fury and his eyes landed straight onto Carol.

  
"Well if it's Fury's secretary! You still don't want to tell me what's your deal?"

  
Carol came to stand beside the table and crossed her arms.

  
"My deal is I left this cube in Fury's hands two decades ago and I intend to make sure he gets a hold of it again as soon as possible."

  
"Two decades, hum?" Tony continued. "Were you even born? You kind of look like an intern."

  
Carol smirked.

  
"Oh, are you jealous? I can give you a few tips, you know."

  
Tony chuckled, and looked at Steve:

  
"See? Is it so hard to share the recipe for immortality?"

  
Fury cleared his throat.

  
"Can we focus on the crisis at hand, please?"

  
Everyone seemed to agree, and Steve went on to talk about Loki's scepter.

* * *

  
  
Carol could have gone and help Banner and Stark, but really her deal was more engineering and less physics, so she decided to sit this one out, only telling them to call her if they needed something heavy to be lifted. She stayed on the bridge and went to lean against the wall beside Monica's monitor with a heavy sigh.

  
"What, not what you expected?" Monica asked, turning in her chair to face her mother.

  
"Too much waiting! Why do we always have to wait for anything? Plus I just missed the best scrap of the decade!"

  
Her eyes fell back on Thor who was talking to Coulson.

  
"I've never fought an Asgardian before."

  
"You know there's a training room on the helicarrier, right? Why don't you ask him for a round?"

  
"I don't want to wreck the ship. Fury would be so mad at me."

  
Monica chuckled.

  
"Aerial battle? I heard he could fly."

  
"Yeah, apparently he landed right on the Quinjet. God, I wish I had been there! It would have been so much fun!"

  
Monica shook her head.

  
"You're not taking any of this seriously, are you?"

  
Carol shrugged.

  
"We don't know what the Tesseract can do in the hands of a demented Asgardian. Of course, I'm worried, but what can I do besides stay calm? There is nothing else to do. Now, unless you suddenly have a target for me, I'm going to go bother your mom again."

  
Monica rolled her eyes and returned to her screen. Carol pushed herself off the wall and walked through the bridge and up the stairs. Before she could make it out the pit, however, she heard a deep voice calling:

  
"Honorable Kree."

  
She pivoted on her heel and came face to face with Thor.

  
"I'm not a Kree, well, not anymore."

  
"Apologize, my lady. I had recognized the emblem of the Kree Empire on your uniform, but those are not the usual colors of their soldiers, which had me confused."

  
"No, these are my colors. As I said, I'm not a Kree."

  
Thor nodded.

  
"Might you be a warrior as well? I couldn't help but notice you alone wore this uniform."

  
She nodded.

  
"Yeah, you could say that. You're lucky I wasn't on the ship with Steve, or else you would have never had the chance to get Loki out of the Quinjet in the first place," she boasted.

  
Thor let out a boisterous laugh and clapped her on the shoulder.

  
"A warrior indeed! On my planet, we had a corp of female warriors such as yourself. They were called the Valkyries. Strongest warriors to ever be a part of Asgards' military. When I was but a child I dreamed of joining their ranks. Had you been Asgardian, I'm sure you would have been one as well."

  
Carol nodded.

  
"Well on my planet, there's only one of me and believe me, that is absolutely enough."

  
Both Carol and Thor dissolved into laughter.

* * *

  
  
Carol had left Thor to wander the halls of the helicarrier as she made her way back to the hangar. However, the farther she walked, the more she could feel a headache growing behind her eyes, like a flower of pure pain blooming in her brain. By the time she found Maria, she was wincing. Every step she took sent a shot of pain right through her brain.

  
"Carol?"

  
She almost tumbled in Maria's arms, both her hands pressing down on her head.

  
"Carol, hey, what's up?"

  
"Do you not hear it?"

  
"Hear what?"

  
It was like a scream, a shrill sound piercing through her ears. She could feel the control over her powers slipping, and energy desperately trying to pass through her hands.

  
"Carol? Hey, Carol?"

  
Carol took in a deep breath and her helmet appeared over her face. It didn't make the noise stop, but it softened it. Somehow she almost swore she could hear voices, talking to her, though she had no idea what they were telling her.

  
"Carol? Are you okay?"

  
"I have the biggest headache I've ever had in my entire life."

  
Come to think of it, she'd felt that pain before, only once. After the accident, when she had woken up on Hala in the infirmary.

  
Her eyes grew wide as realization dawned on her.

  
"I have to go! Sorry, Maria, I'm fine! I just... I'll be right back!"

  
She took off in a hurry, helmet still firmly in place over her head. She pushed past a few agents in her way, then slid to a stop by the door of the lab. There, she not only found the entire team, but they were all at each other's throat.

  
"You people are so petty..." Thor said with a chuckle, "and tiny."

  
"Everyone, get out of the room!" she called out. "Now!"

  
"Oh look, it's blondie again," Tony said. "It's too late, we already know all of Fury's little secrets."

  
Carol had no idea what he was talking about, but right now, she couldn't care less. She stomped into the room, but Tony blocked her path.

  
"You're not getting away with it this time," he said.

  
She frowned.

  
"With what?"

  
"With not telling us the truth! What are you? Some kind of lab experiment? Fury's little pet or something."

  
She let out an angry sighed. A glance at the scepter told her everything she needed to know. It was glowing.

  
"I've had enough of you!"

  
She pushed Tony out of the way with ease and he landed squarely on his ass.

  
"Everyone out! You're being controlled by the scepter!"

  
"Oh, and you're not!" Tony replied as if it made any sense.

  
"No, this is what I was trying to tell you!" Natasha replied.

  
"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his..."

  
Bruce cut Fury before he could finish his sentence.

  
"Where? You rented my room!"

  
"The cell was just in case..."

  
"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!"

  
Silence fell into the room, and Bruce continued, somewhat surprised to have admitted the truth, to begin with:

  
"I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!"

  
Bruce shifted and got his hand on the scepter, which he took off the stand. Everyone's gaze stared at him with worry. Carol saw both Natasha and Fury ready to pull out their pistols. Carol could feel the energy boiling under her skin once again. She suddenly realized that she was the only person here capable of stopping the Hulk.

  
"You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"

  
Steve was the first to intervene:

  
"Doctor Banner, put down the scepter."

  
Bruce looked down at his hand as if he hadn't realized he'd been holding the scepter in the first place. The computer behind them beeped suddenly, and everyone seemed to come alive. Banner put the scepter back on its holder.

  
"Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all."

  
He moved to go look at the computer, Natasha hot on his tail, and Carol moved closer to the scepter. She looked at it closely. It was still glowing, just with a little bit less intensity than before. She was about to touch the jewel at its center when she heard the others arguing behind her once again.

  
"I can get there faster."

  
"Look, all of us.."

  
"The Tesseract belongs to Asgard, no human is a match for it."

  
"Hum, excuse me?" she suddenly intervened. "I'm more than a match for the Tesseract. I'd say I could destroy it if I even wanted to!"

  
She didn't understand why she was so suddenly angry and so eager to argue.

  
"You're not going alone!" Steven continued to try to stop Tony.

  
"You gonna stop me?"

  
"Put on the suit, let's find out."

  
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."

  
Suddenly there was a massive explosion on the side, and a burst of fire ran through the ventilation shaft, sending everyone back. Carol was thrown off to the ground. Her head would have hit the ground if not for her helmet. She was quick to recover and pushed herself up to her feet. Steve was already helping Tony out of the room. Fury sat up, his ears still ringing from the detonation.

  
"Hill?!"

  
Carol heard Maria's answer in her helmet.

  
"Number 3 engine is down! Can we get a run in?"

  
Carol came over to help Fury up as they waited for Maria's instructions.

  
"Somebody's got to get inside and patch that engine."

  
"I can do it," Carol decided.

  
"No, Danvers, I need you up on the runway. Stop anyone you see up there."

  
"Got it!"

  
"Stark! Can you fix it?"

  
"I'm on it!"

  
Carol ran out the door, pushing her way around panicked agents who were going from one station to the next and trying to get ready for war.

  
"And Carol? Try not to destroy another engine while you're at it."

  
She rolled her eyes.

  
"Yes, sir."


	2. We are the Avengers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Carol Initiative is on! The helicarrier is under attack, and then goddamn New York City is under attack, and somehow Carol always feels like she's doing most of the heavy lifting!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Guess who's going back to see Captain Marvel for the third time tonight! I'm so excited like it's the first time I'm going to see it! I just love that movie so much (if you couldn't tell) and I kind of want to cry every time I realize that the DVD won't be out until July :(  
> Anyway, all of you guys have loved the first part! Truth is I could have made at least four or five chapters of this whole story, but where's the fun in that! I probably would have had a hard time writing this story, but let's say I have a lot of practice when it comes to inserting one character in another story (if you're a Lexa fan from The 100 & also happen to like Game of Thrones read Rise of the Green Dragon and yes this is a shameless plug but I don't care)  
> As usual, I'll be back tomorrow with more Ramvers family shenanigans and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Carol made it at break-neck speed to the pressurized door leading to the runway. She pulled it open quickly, almost tearing the valve off the door in her hurry. As soon as she stepped out, she noticed a small group of people dressed in black entering through one of the maintenance hatches.

  
"Hey!"

  
She blasted two men off the helicarrier and ran up to the hatch, where all of the others had disappeared. There were two other men waiting for her there. She had to step away when a hail of bullets almost hit her. She waited a few seconds, until they stopped firing, and jumped down. They didn't have the time to aim once again, as she punched one and kicked the other, with so much strength they made a dent in the nearest walls.

  
"Fury, we have rats in the air vents."

  
"How many?"

  
"I don't know. Six, maybe less. I already took out four of them."

  
"Do not pursue them. We have a bigger problem."

  
"What could be bigger than six agents infiltrated in the air vents?"

  
"We have a hulk lose in the hangar."

  
"Oh no..."

  
She flew out of the hatch and around the helicarrier. She could see the damaged engine, losing large quantities of smoke. She could see Stark in his bright red suit coming over to the engine. She flew past them and through the opening usually reserved for planes. She landed there just in time to see Hulk being knocked in the face by Thor's hammer and landing on an aircraft.

  
"Hey! It's a very expensive plane!" she called out.

  
She pushed herself off the ground and rammed into the Hulk at full speed, sending him down onto the ground. She rolled off of him and stood up just as the green giant was standing back up as well. Thor knocked him with his hammer again, then jumped on his back to try and get a better hold of him. The duo moved around so much that Carol couldn't find an opening to blast him without hurting Thor as well. Suddenly, Hulk jumped through the ceiling, sending them into the floor above. Carol sighed.

  
"Hulk and Thor are back in the lab."

  
"Can you get Hulk's attention?" Hill answered after a few moments. "We need him out of the helicarrier before he tears the place apart!"

  
"Got it!"

  
Carol flew back out of the hangar and flew upward until she was on the same level as the lab. She found the Hulk tossing Thor around like a rag-doll. The lab was a complete wreck. She took a deep breath, and blasted the Hulk with both hands, in a continuous ray. Once she was sure she had the Hulk's attention, she stopped. He was laying flat against a wall, not strong enough to support the full strength of her blast.

  
"Come on, you want another dose or something..."

  
But there was no need for more, as the Hulk's attention had completely been redirected toward Carol.

  
"Oh, he's angry..."

  
He jumped out of the lab and she tried to swerve away to avoid him. He caught hold of her foot and started dragging her down toward the ground with him. She flew as far away from the ship as she could and kicked him. He flew off of her and rose above her. Before he could try to punch her she punched him in the chest, twice, and blasted him off. The blast was so strong it sent him miles away in a matter of seconds, and Carol lost complete track of him.

  
"I hope you didn't need Banner back..." she said.

  
"Is he dead?" Fury asked over gunfires.

  
"Umm... I'll say joker for now and we can work out the technicalities of what the Hulk can and can't take in."

* * *

  
  
Carol was about to fly back to the helicarrier when she heard a strange sound, like a machine coughing out its lungs. Next things she knew, another engine had stopped working and the helicarrier was quickly leaning to the side, and plummeting through the clouds. She watched as all the planes attached to the upper deck fell off onto the second runway.

  
"Umm, guys, we're falling."

  
"It's Barton," Fury replied. "He took out our systems. He's headed for the detention level. Does anybody copy?"

  
"This is Agent Romanoff. I copy."

  
"Stark, we're losing altitude."

  
"Yeah. Noticed."

  
Carol sighed.

  
"Why do I always have to do everything myself?"

  
She flew straight down and under the helicarrier, braced herself for impact, and placed both her hands on the bottom of the ship. Its unfortunate plummeting stopped. Carol gritted her teeth. She could feel her hands pressing down on the metal. She was too strong for her own sake, and the hull of the ship would not hold on long. Give it a few more minutes and she would pass right through it, and they would start falling again.

  
"Stark, you better move your shiny butt!" she warned.

  
She could hear the metal groaning above her. Her hands were slipping. Beats of sweat were forming under her helmet, and she eventually let it fall away. Her hair was swept by the high altitude wind. She clenched her jaw and moved one her hand to brace the helicarrier against her forearm.

  
Suddenly there was something circular and mostly made of glass which fell right beside her, and dropped at full speed toward the ground. At first, she thought Loki had escaped from the ship, but then she noticed blond hair and a red cape inside.

  
"Thor's down..." she mumbled between her teeth.

  
"Wait, I thought you were keeping the ship afloat?" Tony asked.

  
"No, he's literally down... as in he just crashed on the ground..."

  
"Oh..."

  
She put all of her strength in her upper body. It was particularly hard to keep a good grasp on something so smooth, and especially to hold it up when she had nothing to hold herself. She pushed with her legs, almost folded in half, her knees coming closer to her chest.

  
There were a few clanks, then the sound of ignition and Carol looked to her right. Iron Man had just passed through the engine and was barely holding up. He flew straight for the hole on the side of the engine. Carol tentatively let go of the helicarrier. She waited worriedly but it didn't fall back, and slowly began to rise away from her. She sighed with relief and flew toward the hole as well. Steve was sitting against the railing, breathing heavily. Tony was laying on his back at the entrance of the hallway, the eyes of his suit no longer glowing. She landed in the first piece of solid ground available and breathed in heavily. She had not carried so much weight and for such a long amount of time in a while. Add to that the need to restrain her force so she wouldn't pass through and she was beyond exhausted.

  
"Fury?" she finally called out once her breathing was back to normal. "Are we back on track? Nick?"

  
She waited for an answer, and when it finally came, it sent a long, cold shiver down her spine.

  
"Agent Coulson is down."

* * *

  
  
His mortuary bag had been placed in the infirmary, along with all the other agents who'd lost their lives in the fight. Carol stood outside the room, staring at his bag through the window. She was boiling with energy, all of her exhaustion from having carried the helicarrier completely gone. There was something stuck in the back of her throat, something bitter and sharp. She clenched her fists, too afraid of what would happen if she opened them.

  
"Shouldn't you be with the others?"

  
She didn't turn around when Maria came to stand beside her. She felt her hand on her arm but didn't dare to move.

  
"I should have been there..." she finally said.

  
Maria kept her hand on Carol's wrist, the pad of her fingers dancing at the edge of Carol's palm. Her skin was burning hot.

  
"Carol..."

  
"I should have been there, punching Loki's teeth out one by one..."

  
Her voice was strangled, just a hiss between her teeth.

  
"You stopped us from crashing. You saved everyone's life."

  
"Not everyone's..."

  
Carol was struggling to keep the tears at bay, but she knew her resolved would break very soon. Instead of trying to argue with her, Maria moved her hand away from her arm and wrapped it around Carol's frame. She brought Carol against her, and almost as soon as the blonde's forehead touched her shoulder a long, drawn-out sob escaped her lips. As tears tentatively rolled down her cheek, Maria rubbed her back slowly.

  
"Listen. You and the others did everything you could. Without all of you, we would have all been dead."

  
Carol took in a deep breath to try and calm herself.

  
"We could have done more, Phil didn't have to..."

  
Maria shushed her softly.

  
"Phil believed in all of you. He did his job, and so did you."

  
Carol nodded, and after a few deep breaths, she managed to calm her breathing. She hugged Maria one last time before moving away and brushing the tears off her face.

  
"We're going to make him pay," she said with determination. "For Phil."

* * *

  
  
Carol was stomping through the hallway, heading straight for the bridge, when she came across Steve who was heading back toward the infirmary.

  
"Captain, we're leaving," he said.

  
"Good, because if I spend another minute waiting in here I'm going to explode."

  
"Do you know how to fly one of these jets?"

  
Carol smirked.

  
"You bet I do."

  
After reuniting with the rest of the group in the hangar, they went to requisition a Quinjet. The young pilot, whom Carol recognized as one of her freshly graduated students, seemed confused by the group of weirdos trying to hijack a jet.

  
"You are not authorized to be here..." he started.

  
"Son. Just don't," Steve replied after stopping him with a single motion of the hand.

  
The pilot looked over at Carol, who indicated for him to get out now with a small jerk of the head. He ran out so quickly she didn't even see where he was going. She settled in the piloting seat, Hawkeye taking the co-pilot seat, and they flew off.

* * *

  
  
They flew straight for New York City, Iron Man ahead of them. As they approached the Stark tower, Carol realized that the blue line she'd seen was not a lens-flare from the tower's blinding lights, but very much a beam of energy firing straight into the sky. The sound of an explosion echoed in the distance, and suddenly, a small, black hole appeared in the sky, like a piece of space torn off and glued onto the clouds. Tiny dots of metal began to pour out rapidly.

  
"Oh, that's not good..."

  
As they approached, Carol called Tony:

  
"Stark, we're on you're three, heading north-east."

  
"What, did you stop for drive-thru? Swing up by Park, I'm gonna lay them out for you."

  
She swirled the plane around, slowly coming between the buildings, and positioned herself. She released the Gatling gun, nodding over at Hawkeye. Tony passed them by and together the two pilots destroyed almost every single chariot. She pulled up, flying around the Stark tower. Chariots exploding left and right sent smoke through the shredding engines. Finally, they rose up to the top floor of the tower. Thor was there, fighting Loki. Carol turned the plane to face the two Asgardians.

  
"Now's no time to miss!"

  
Hawkeye started shooting, but the bullets seemed to bounce off Loki. He managed to hold off Thor and shoot at them with his specter. Carol attempted an evasive maneuver, but the blast touched their engine.

  
"Oh no, not again..."

  
She felt her control on the plane slipping, as it lost altitude quickly. She swirled between buildings to the best of her ability, never grazing a single one as the ground became closer and closer.

  
"Don't worry! I'm kind of an expert when it comes to crashing planes at this point!"

  
She saw a small plaza coming up, and she didn't hesitate. The plane crashed against the concrete ground heavily, and skid to a stop before it could hurt the building in front of them. As soon as they landed, Carol threw her pilot helmet off and replaced it with her red one.

  
"Everyone alright back there?" she asked as she looked behind her.

  
Steve and Natasha seemed fine if a bit shaken. She opened the hatch and they all walked out.

  
"Don't worry, we'll be laughing about this in six years."

  
"If we make it till then..." Natasha replied.

  
The four of them ran up to the entrance of Grand Central Station, and Steve said:

  
"We have to get back up there!"

  
"I could carry you up?" Carol suggested.

  
Suddenly they heard a low whining, which made the air around them tremble. They looked up, and amidst the Chitari foot-soldiers still flying down, they saw a giant whale. A metal whale with long, sharp, needle-like teeth and spikes on its back. As it pulled down over the Station, its massive fin beheaded the statue, sending marble flying everywhere. There was another sound, like air being expelled out of a canon, and Chitari soldiers by the dozens jumped from the side of the whale and landed on the buildings around them.

  
"I should probably take care of that first..."

  
Carol flew off after the monster. In her helmet, she heard Steve say:

  
"Stark, are you seeing this?"

  
"Seeing, still working on the believing. Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"

  
Carol could see Tony flying paralytically to the whale, while she was hot on its tail, almost flying by its side.

  
"Banner?"

  
"Just keep me posted."

  
Carol finally came to fly beside the monster. She flipped on her side and aimed at the monster with both hands. Not only were her photon blasts barely scratching its side, but it started distancing her because she wasn't flying as fast as before.

  
"Tough nut to crack."

  
Just as she was about to move to land on its back, four chariots of Chitari came flying straight at her. A blast from a gun hit her in the chest as she swirled to avoid them. She was knocked back, her uniform tarnished a bit by a burning mark, and her ego was a bit bruised, but other than that, she was fine.

  
"Goddammit! I'm trying to work here!"

  
She turned around and flew off, right after the chariots. A few blasts later, there was nothing left of them. She continued on, flying through all the buildings and blasting any chariots she laid her eyes on. She could see the outline of the whale still undulating through the buildings from afar, but every time she tried to get back to it, some other group of chariot would come a bit too close for comfort. It was almost as if they knew they should keep her away from the whale as much as possible.

  
She had almost made it back to the whale when she saw Tony fly in front of it, and threw a few sparks at it, which landed completely inefficiently on its head. Still, it had attracted its attention, and the whale turned around to follow Iron Man. As it did, a part of its side cut through the nearest building, and massive blocks of concrete began raining down on the street. Carol destroyed them all, turning them into a downpour of pebbles. Then, she quickly checked inside the building. Some people were trapped under the rubble, their co-workers desperately trying to pull them out.

  
"I've got this."

  
She pulled up the big pile of concrete slowly until all the people stuck under had been extracted.

  
"Everyone out?"

  
One of the men there nodded, and she let go of the rubble.

  
"Get out, now!"

  
Once she was sure everyone was being carried down the stairs, she flew back out.

* * *

  
  
She flew toward the entrance of Grand Central where the rest of the team was still fighting and slowly being overtaken by a large group of Chitari. Thor flew down just as she was about to land, electrocuting a whole bunch of Chitari. She blasted the few left standing.

  
She landed beside the rest of the team as Thor pushed himself up on a car, already looking tired.

  
"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable."

  
"Thor is right. We have to deal with these guys," Tony said in everyone's ear.

  
"How do we do this?"

  
"As a team."

  
Thor took a firmer grip on his hammer.

  
"I have unfinished business with Loki."

  
"Yeah? Well get in line," Hawkeye said as he changed the points of his arrows.

  
"Save it. Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he's gonna need us to..."

  
Steve was cut by the sound of a lone motorbike rolling down the street in their direction. Banner hopped off, leaving the bike on the side of the overpass.

  
"So, this all seems horrible."

  
"I've seen worse," Natasha replied.

  
He looked at her, ashamed.

  
"Sorry."

  
"No, we could use a little worse."

  
"Stark, we've got him."

  
"Banner?"

  
"Just like you said."

  
"Well tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."

  
They all watched as Tony rounded the corner, the big whale right behind him. With its fins, it cut through a big chunk of the building, sending pieces of glass everywhere.

  
"I don't see how that's a party..." Natasha said.

  
Carol agreed:

  
"Yeah, remind me to never let you organize any parties after this, Stark."

  
Still, as the whale flew lower and lower to the ground, following Tony toward them, Bruce walked forward, taking a few steps away from the team.

  
"Dr. Banner? Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."

  
Bruce turned back to them.

  
"That's the secret, Cap. I'm always angry."

  
As he turned around, his entire frame seemed to explode. He went from a normal shade of beige to a dirty shade of green. A giant fist collided with the monster's nose, taking it to a complete stop. Its gargantuan body began to flip over. All the metal pieces of its armor popped open with a cling, revealing ugly gray skin underneath. As it flipped over, Carol flew up and shot a photon blast straight at it. This brought it completely to a halt, and it fell back limply on the overpass, before rolling off. Around them, all the Chitari who'd scaled the building screeched. The team placed themselves in a circular formation, ready for another fight. More Chitari forces began flying out of the portal, a whole lot more.

  
"Guys..."

  
"Call it, Captain," Tony said.

  
"Before you do, can I make a suggestion?" Carol said.

  
"Sure."

  
"You may or may not know that I don't need to breathe. Rectification, I don't need to breathe in space. I can get up there and destroy these things before they even make it past the portal, give you guys a little bit more room to breathe."

  
"Good idea," Steve agreed. "We keep in contact."

  
"Call me if you need more heavy things to be lifted."

  
She took off as Steve continued to explain the plan to everyone else. She flew past another flying monster, and before it could deploy the soldiers on its sides, she burned them all to a crisp with her photon blast. Then, she went straight up, to the portal.

  
She flew side by side with the beam of light, and past through without any problem. She didn't even feel the difference, besides the fact that she suddenly felt more powerful, and less constraint by Earth's gravity. There were still a ton of chariots and leviathans on the other side, as well as multiple big ships.

  
"Guys, it's pretty ugly up there too."

  
No answer. She frowned.

  
"Guys?"

  
She flew off, assuming communication must have cut off.

  
Punching her way through chariots and leviathans became a lot easier when she wasn't afraid of harming the civilians around her. She went from chariot to chariot at full speed, then blasted through a leviathan's teeth, and flew through its entire body, splitting it in half before emerging completely clean on the other side. The more she destroyed, the more seemed to continue to fly by her, completely undisturbed. She slowly but surely made her way to one of the bigger ships. She blasted through one of its branches, picking up the big piece she had detached and throwing it at the ship. It exploded, sending her back near the entrance to the portal. There, she saw sparks flying behind her, as Thor's thunder destroyed a few enemies which had escaped her.

  
She flew back down, following a bunch of leviathans as they passed through the portal.

  
"Hey guys, communication keeps cutting on the other side."

  
She kicked one leviathan on the head, and it knocked all the chariots which had been flying under it. Then, she landed on its back, rolling on the metal armor. At the edge of its helmet and the beginning of its neck-piece, she assumed, she found an opening. She blasted the leviathan's head off, and it came crashing on top of another building, which shook under its weight.

  
"Oh boy..."

  
She flew off after making sure that no one had been trapped under the damn thing. As she pursued a bunch of chariots, she found one which had a Black Widow on its back.

  
"Hey Nat, having fun?"

  
Natasha looked beside her, to Carol who was casually flying beside her.

  
"Yes, this is the highlight of my day!" Natasha shouted back.

  
"Need any help?"

  
"No, I got this. Make sure the boys behave while I'm occupied, will you?"

  
Carol smiled and blasted the chariots which had accumulated around them before flying off.

  
Soon enough, she came across the Hulk exiting a massive hole on the side of the station. As a leviathan passed by, she blasted it on the side of its head, sending it tumbling toward the big green man. Hulk jumped up and knocked the monster on its head with both his fists. The leviathan crashed on the ground with a growl.

  
"Good job, man!" she said as she gave him a thumbs up.

  
Apparently, the hulk wasn't mad at her, as he gave her a thumbs up back. She flew back up toward the entrance to the portal.

  
"Guys, I'm going back in. If you don't hear from me in like ten minutes, go to Louisiana and get my cat, I'm sure she can help."

  
"What?" Tony said before all communications were cut off once again.

* * *

  
  
Another big ship exploded, sending Carol tumbling back into the emptiness of space. The whole of the Chitari army lay before her, looking just as massive as before they'd started. There was but one big ship left, but she couldn't count how many leviathans and chariots were still waiting for a turn. She was about to fly back toward Earth, to see if Natasha needed help with closing the portal. It was their only way of winning, she knew.

  
Just as she passed the bulk of the army, she noticed something else flying through the portal, in the wrong direction. Red and yellow suit with a white missile  on its back. Tony was bringing something through.

  
"Stark, do you copy? What's going on?"

  
Tony let go of the missile and it flew past Carol, and straight onto the last mother-ship. The detonation pushed Carol forward, and she turned around, just in time to see a massive explosion overtaking the ship and all the soldiers near it. Then she turned back to the portal. Tony was floppily falling back at a very slow pace. The light of his armor had turn off.

  
"Stark? Hey, Stark, do you copy?"

  
Suddenly she heard a thunderous roar. The portal was closing. They were going to lose their only access back home. Well, she could go around and take the long road. Tony would be dead long before that.

  
She didn't hesitate. She flew straight to Tony, and just as she collided with him, she put everything she had into her arm and threw him through the portal. He past through just as it was closing off.

* * *

  
  
Maria had watched the entire intervention from one of the screens in the hangar. She saw Carol going through the portal multiple times, and saw her flying through the city and kicking ass like she knew she was capable of doing. However, when the portal closed off and everyone celebrated, Maria continued to stare at the screen. Where was Carol? She hadn't seen her coming back out. She felt her heart tighten in her chest. She hoped Carol had gone back out. She hoped they'd been filming something else when she had flown out.

  
"Come on, come on, come on..." she whispered.

  
A few seconds later, her phone rang in her pocket. She took it out and saw Carol's picture.

  
"Are you okay?" she asked quickly as she picked up.

  
"I'm alright. I just won't make it home for dinner. Um... I should be back tomorrow? I might just stop by Xandar, get drive-thru and then be on my way."

  
Maria giggled at her dumb joke, tears of relief escaping her eyes. She brushed them aside quickly.

  
"Be safe, okay. You just had a tough fight, I don't want you falling asleep on the road," she joked back.

  
"Me, falling asleep? I thought you knew of my legendary stamina!"

  
Maria let out another sigh, and Carol continued:

  
"Alright, I should probably call my team before they start worrying. Like I said, I'll be back in no time. And, Maria?"

  
"What?"

  
"I love you so much."

  
"I love you too. Be safe."

  
"Yes, ma'am."

  
Carol hung up. She was already flying at top speed through the emptiness of space. Really, what a hustle! They couldn't wait for her to be back through the short-cut? She had to fly all the way home? Short-cuts were not cheating! She stopped flying to look at her computer and called all the members of her team and Fury.

  
"Okay, so first, you guys are the worst. Don't you have any shame? Making me fly home?"

  
"Carol!" she heard her name being shouted in relief multiple times.

  
"Yeah, Carol! Tell me Stark made it back in one piece."

  
"I did, as a matter of fact. We're getting shawarmas, want anything?"

  
"I suppose my food will be cold before I make it back. Tell you what, send me a bottle of champagne and ask Fury to give me and my girlfriend an entire week off, and we'll be even."

  
"I'll see what I can do," Fury said.

  
"Wait, girlfriend?" Tony replied.

* * *

  
  
Carol had reluctantly accepted to give the Tesseract to Thor, so it could be kept on Asgard. He was partially right when he said it would be in everyone's best interest to keep it protected there. She'd lived long enough to see both the Krees trying to get a hold of it, then the humans trying to exploit it, and finally it had almost caused the end of planet Earth. So long as it was in the hands of people who wanted to use it, whatever its use, it would be dangerous.

  
She'd left home just long enough to see the Asgardians off and make sure nothing would interfere. The Tesseract was contained within its suitcase, and she'd picked it up like it was nothing and placed it in the special holder for Thor and Loki to use to get home. Once the Asgardians had disappeared, everyone said their goodbyes, even if it was most likely temporary.

  
Carol shook hands with Steve.

  
"I suppose we'll be seeing more of you soon, Captain."

  
"I suppose so, Captain."

  
She smirked and nodded to Clint and Natasha, whom she saw often enough not to bother shaking hands. Then, she went to Tony and Bruce, who were settling in Tony's car.  
"You sure I can't drop you off at the airport?" Tony asked.

  
"I could spend 5 hours trying to get home, or I could be home in 5 minutes."

  
He chuckled.

  
"Well, in that case, see you around, Captain Marvel."

  
"Have fun with your tower-building, Iron Man."

  
"Oh give it time, I'm sure you're going to love my tower."

  
"Start by sending me that bottle of champagne, Stark."

  
He pressed down on the gas pedal, making the motor of his sports car roar like a lion.

  
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. What was that?"

  
Carol rolled her eyes but didn't repeat. Instead, she let out her powers, and flew off, leaving Stark on the spot. He chuckled and drove off as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I was editing this chapter thunder roared just outside my window and I'm like "Thor approves of this story!"


End file.
